


ichi, ni, san

by kinghinatatobio (redhoodedwolf)



Series: TsukkiYama Week 2019 [4]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Descriptions of Pain, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, I suppose, M/M, Origin Story, POV Yamaguchi Tadashi, Secret Identity, Sharing of Secrets, lil bit of fluff in there too, oooooh mysterious, tkymweek2019, yama has super powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-07-27 22:43:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20053750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redhoodedwolf/pseuds/kinghinatatobio
Summary: There are only three people who know Tadashi’s secret: His father, his doctor, and Tsukishima Kei.It used to be just one, was quickly two, and then it was a while before it was three.





	ichi, ni, san

**Author's Note:**

> Tsukkiyama Week 2019 Day 4: Superheroes

There are only three people who know Tadashi’s secret: His father, his doctor, and Tsukishima Kei.

It used to be just one, was quickly two, and then it was a while before it was three.

His father has known since the inception of his power. Between one blink and the next, Tadashi had disappeared from right in front of him, and then reappeared in the next second, asking, “Otousan, why do you look so scared?”

They discovered his secondary power when, a few minutes later, Tadashi phased through the coffee table as he tripped backwards into it, his father shouting for him to be careful as he played with the fact that he could turn invisible. He’s stayed on his feet, just walked backwards right through the furniture and righted himself as he stepped out of it, his body regaining its color.

His father was a smart man. He knew, as amazing as this power was, it had to be kept a secret. He promised his son he wasn’t upset with him, that he didn’t do anything wrong, but that he could not tell anyone about this.

For days, Tadashi was kept out of school with an excuse that he was ill. He and his father practice over and over, turning invisible for a solid three seconds, then upping that to ten seconds, then thirty. Once he managed to master a full minute, his father allowed them to take a break and have a snack.

“We have to be very careful from now on, okay? I’m serious.” Tadashi nodded his head at his father’s words. “You’re smart, I know you will try your best. Remember to concentrate. And if you ever feel like you’re not in control, get yourself out of the situation by any means necessary. Even if you have to yell something embarrassing like, “I’m need to go poop!” in the middle of class, okay?” Tadashi giggled. “Okay?” He nodded, more seriously. “The most important thing is that you keep yourself safe. I’ll take care of the rest.”

After their break, his father moved on to testing his phasing. As the days turned into nights, Tadashi slept in his father’s bed, feeling safer with him than he ever had before. Maybe some day he could protect his father the way he felt protected now.

On the third day, Tadashi had moved up from small objects like marbles and books, phasing his hand through them easily. He got cocky, a little too cocky.

“Try turning invisible and then phasing through the picture frame,” his father instructed, miming the action with his hand.

Tadashi had nodded and did his breathing exercise that allowed him to concentrate on the feeling of weightlessness in bis body, and he could tell without looking that he could no longer be seen. He reached for the photo sitting on the coffee table, and his hand went right through it. Feeling bold, he kept going, walking through the coffee table itself and up to the couch.

Tadashi thought he could make it all the way into the hallway. He could go right through the wall.

His father’s voice was distant, a warning call to not push himself. But Tadashi had made up his mind, and he walked through the couch and through the wall.

He almost made it, but then something in him twisted, his stomach lurched, and all at once he was very visible and very solid. And his arm was in the middle of a wall.

He screamed, he cried. His father cradled his head shushing him, wiping his tears, trying to get him to relax. “Just breathe, remember, breathe. Do what you just did, phase your arm through. It’s going to be alright, you’re okay. Good, that’s it, son. Breathe.”

The pain was horrific. It felt like his arm was on fire. His hand was twitching, spasming on the other side, bursting from the wallpaper like some horror movie. He latched on to his father’s voice and tried to breathe, but it was hard. His shoulder was a mess of muscle aches and his nerves felt like they were about to burst. His exposed forearm started turning purple, and that was when he knew he had to just buck up and pull. So he pulled, using all of the tricks he and his father had been practicing over the last few days, and his arm came free of the wall.

Tadashi refused to look at it. His eyes stayed squeezed shut as he collapsed against his father, breathing heavily, tears streaming down his cheeks. His arm felt mangled, like it had been smashed in a trash compactor. He couldn’t move his fingers. He started hyperventilating.

Using a towel, his father wrapped his arm up so that he couldn’t see it and then shepherded him into the car, plopping him in the front seat which he still didn’t weigh enough to legally sit in.

His father’s friend was Tadashi’s pediatrician, as luck would have it, and they drove straight to his house. He was home alone and ushered in the distraught Yamaguchi men and over to the living room.

When the doctor pealed the towel away, his gasped and hissed.

Tadashi spared a look down. His arm had gone numb during the car ride, which he knew wasn’t good, but at least he wasn’t feeling the pain anymore.

It wasn’t real, his arm. It looked like a computer screen that had been smashed in several places, cracks spiderwebbing across it; deformed, some of it discolored, some of it looked like normal human skin.

“Yama-san, what is this?” the doctor asked.

His father shook his head. “I’ll explain later. Basically, it’s broken, and we need to splint it.”

“I’ll get some supplies,” the doctor said before rushing out of the room.

“I’m so sorry,” Tadashi cried, speaking for the first time.

His father stroked his head, fingers smoothing back his hair. “This is a lesson, son. You have to be careful.”

The pain came back when the arm was splinted and casted. Tadashi suddenly received fleeing back into his fingers, and then passed out after throwing up from the pain. He was immediately given pain medications and was able to get some sleep.

“It looked… like a glitch,” the doctor whispered to his father when he thought Tadashi was asleep.

“The cast isn’t going to work long-term. We need something more permanent,” his father replied, ignoring the comment.

“I could look into prosthetics for you,” he was offered. “Some sort of arm cuff so that he doesn’t have to lose the hand. It’s imperative that the forearm stay banded, because I am concerned what would happen if it further…shattered.”

Tadashi was in and out of it for days, but when he was finally conscious, he had a new forearm, was lying in a hospital bed, and was being told by a pretty nurse that he was lucky that they could save most of his arm. A car accident was the cover story, she spilled, though she didn’t know it was a cover.

Tadashi’s forearm was now a silver metal tube, skinnier than his actual arm, but not by much right now. He was still growing, though.

He still had to do some physical therapy to get used to the new movements of his arm. He was constantly startled by the cool press of metal against his skin. He did hand stretches every day, to encourage his almost-deceased nerves to work and feel again. His ligaments were weak, but he was able to grip onto a stairwell and hoist himself up it a week later.

It would be over a year before he’d ever used his powers again. His father never brought them up ever again, and neither did Tadashi.

In his first year of middle school, Tadashi met Tsukishima Kei. He was being bullied, as he often was because of his less-than-perfect left arm, and Tsukki had saved him. Sort of.

Tadashi then met him again at his volleyball practice, a sport his father had signed him up for to encourage the use of his muscles, to keep them strong. By latching on, Tadashi and he became fast friends, and he became really happy. He now had a best friend, a team to play with, and less bullies at school. He counted his blessings, for sure.

When Tadashi did use his powers again, it was by accident. He’d been brushing his teeth one morning, looking at his reflection, and thought that maybe it would be better if he was just always invisible. The thought must have triggered something in his brain, because suddenly his reflection had vanished and a toothbrush was floating on air, foamy with toothpaste.

From there, Tadashi stayed wary, but he began to practice on his own again, only doing little things, like turning invisible any time he passed his bedroom mirror, or playing peek-a-boo with neighborhood cats (that _always_ freaked them out), or literally shoving his head through a book he did not want to read for English class.

The first time he phased after the incident had been an accident, of course, but it caused a panic attack that was witnessed by Tsukishima when he came to look for him at lunch. Tadashi had huddled himself under the outside sinks and was rocking back and forth, trying to regulate his breathing.

Tsukishima spotted him and seemed to immediately know what was wrong with him, because he just sat on the ground next to him and took loud, deep, calming breaths. By matching his friend’s breathing, Tadashi was able to eventually calm down, but it took some time. Lunch was almost over by the time Tsukishima wordlessly handed Yamaguchi his bento and started in on his. They never talked about why he had the panic attack, but Tsukishima was more relaxed around him, after that. And a bit more clingy as well. Not that Tadashi minded.

Middle school came and went. Tadashi helped Tsukishima through his own family issues, and it felt good to be helpful to a friend, even if he didn’t feel like there was much that he could do. It made him feel powerful, in a way.

Upon entering high school, Tadashi and Tsukishima were hit with the whirlwind that was high school volleyball, so there was no time to worry about anything else. Months went by. Tadashi got more confident in his volleyball skills, smacked some sense into Tsukishima, and made new friends that boosted his confidence. He felt so confident that he decided that it was time to disobey his father. But it was a less risky move, this time. Only potentially emotionally damaging.

“I have something to tell you,” Tadashi finally stated after five minutes of silence where Tsukishima was just staring at him, waiting to find out why he had been invited over so formally out of the blue on a Wednesday evening after practice.

“I’m listening,” Tsukishima said, redundantly.

Tadashi coughed and cleared his throat. “I, um, can do things. With my body.” Tsukishima raised a single eyebrow. “That not everyone can do.”

“Okay.”

Tadashi took a deep breath. “My arm?” he waved the phalange, “It’s like this because I screwed up with my abilities when I was younger. And I damaged it, really bad. The doctor called it a glitch. And it pretty much was.”

“Tadashi. Spit it out.”

In shock because Tsukishima had never called him by his first name before, Tadashi blurted, “I can turn invisible and walk through walls.”

Tsukishima’s eyebrows ceased to exist; they had become one with his hairline.

“I know it sounds crazy, but I swear I’m not lying. Look!”

Tadashi picked up his textbook with one hand and then poked his other hand through it. Tsukishima watched silently, eyes still wide and face slack in shock. But Tadashi could tell he was paying attention. His eyes were clear.

Tadashi then turned his hand invisible and then snatched Tsukishima’s glasses off of his face. Tsukishima blinked and reached for the glasses, only for his hand to pass through the air where Tadashi’s hand should be.

“Amazing,” Tsukishima breathed, almost involuntarily, and the glasses were settled back onto his nose. “You’re a superhero.”

Tadashi blushed, hand reappearing and textbook dropped to the floor between them. “Not at all. I just have the bells and whistles; I don’t do anything with them.”

“Maybe not right now, but someday you might. Picture this,” Tsukishima spread his arms out wide, like he was displaying a marquee. “You’re Bond and I’m Q. Or M.”

“Tsukki, you wanna be my tech guy?” Tadashi said in a high voice, surprised.

“Your right-hand-man,” Tsukishima corrected.

“I need a left-hand-man,” Tadashi joked, holding up his left arm.

Tsukishima rolled his eyes. Tadashi had used that joke several times before, and it had only been kind of funny the first time. Still, it alleviated a bit of the tension he still felt after telling Tsukishima.

“You won’t tell anyone, right?” Tadashi needed to confirm.

“The future is at stake; Miyagi’s future superhero could never be unmasked this soon.”

No one but Tadashi got to experience the joy that was Tsukishima’s sense of humor, which he thought was half a damn shame but also half the best secret he could ever keep.

“The Glitch and Tsukki,” Tadashi chimed in with. “The ideal team.”

“We’ll work on the names,” Tsukishima said with a wince. “The Glitch is cool, though. Mysterious.”

“I can’t be a superhero. My dad would find out and he’d kill me. I was never supposed to tell you, either!”

Tadashi must be going mad for taking this almost seriously, like Tsukishima was going to show up tomorrow in a suit carrying a briefcase with a spandex onesie inside for him.

“That’s what my job is, to protect you from everything else.”

Tadashi pushed Tsukishima’s shoulder with a hand, and Tsukishima feigned injury. “You just want to save the world and take all the credit.”

“I’d never be so vain. Sixty-forty, for sure.”

Tadashi laughed, curling into himself as the giggling started to form an ache in his side. “That’s a deal I can take,” he promised.

“You are a hero, Yamaguchi.”

Tadashi glanced back up, holding the stitch in his side, to see Tsukishima’s earnest look.

“You’ve never needed powers to prove that. But they look pretty cool. Maybe you can be a magician instead.”

Tsukishima disguising a compliment with a joke was something else Tadashi was used to, but they were not often given. He felt very grateful for this moment.

“I’m glad I told you, Tsukki. But you know this means I can’t ever let you go, at the risk of you spilling my secret identity.”

Tsukishima held up his right hand, pinky extended, like a promise. “I’m counting on it, Glitch.”

“Sure, _T_.”

“T, huh? I don’t mind it.”

**Author's Note:**

> i'm on twitter&tumblr: kinghinatatobio


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